Bob Kerrey: “The barriers are crumbling; the system is working. Mr. President, those are the words of David Broder. He wrote them in…”

“The barriers are crumbling; the system is working. Mr. President, those are the words of David Broder. He wrote them in a Washington Post op-ed on October 21, 1997 as he commented on the progress being made on IRS reform. Mr. Broder was commenting at the time that in an increasingly partisan climate on Capitol Hill, the work of Representatives Portman, Cardin, Senator Grassley, and I and how this legislation is moving along was a classic example of how our democratic system can work and that by "beating the odds" we were on the verge of giving the Internal Revenue Service "the shake-up it clearly needs." Mr. President, good news comes to the American taxpayers today. The Senate is about to pass historic IRS reform legislation that will touch the lives of hundreds of millions of Americans. This is a long, detailed bill, Mr. President, but I can summarize its intent in a simple well known phrase: of, by and for the people. That is the kind of government we have--of, by and for the people. The premise of our effort from the beginning was that the IRS works for the taxpayer, not the other way around. The impact, I hope, will be equally simple. When you call the IRS, you should get a helpful voice, not a busy signal. That helpful voice should have the resources to help you answer the simple question: "How much do I owe?" If one of the rare bad apples in the IRS abuses a taxpayer, the Commissioner should be able to fire him.”